This man needs counselling not jail

THE EDITOR: I am a tourist here in your beautiful island and have never written a letter to the editor before, but this warrants it. I have a Masters Degree in Sociology and worked as a counsellor in a maximum security prison in Illinois. To put a gardener in prison for two years for having sex with an under-age, non-consenting black and white Holstein cow is a terrible thing to do. A poor, old horny gardener will now learn a good trade in something like drug running and be able to make lots of money and have all the women he wants when he gets out until he possibly kills somebody. That is not justice. Send the guy to counselling but not prison. Where is the crime? It surely is not uncommon for people on farms to have sex with sheep or goats; cows are a bit on the large side. I don’t say I approve of it but it happens.

I spent much of my time as a prison counsellor trying to keep people like the gardener from being killed or raped. Our poor gardener will probably get more sex than he ever dreamed of but he will be on the unwilling, receiving end. He may very likely end up with AIDS. This is a tragedy. Also, to kill the cow because it was “distressed” seems absurd. Living on a farm for several years I know that cows are artificially inseminated, which involves locking the cow in a tight cage then inserting a device into her. Not unlike the gardener. The cows don’t seem any worse for wear in this situation. The Judge also said, “you can get a woman for a box of fried chicken.” Does this mean prostitution is okay here? Both acts are crimes. To have women that need to resort to selling their bodies because of the breakdown in society, the economy or a poor educational system is no excuse. Does she want to lie down with a smelly gardener or other men who may physically harm her and definitely emotionally harm her? I doubt it. Let the guy out and tell him it was a bad thing that he did.

LON THOMPSON
Port-of-Spain